The long overdue posts covering 2019 continue here with the top 5 45s* I dug up last year, LPs coming tomorrow…Peace and Bright Moments y’all

Phase III – Phase III

First off, technically this isn’t a “45” as it plays at 33 1/3 rpms, but it’s a 7″ and this post is really about the tiny records and I’m no purist. Got this at the very first day of Hector Waluyo’s new store in Long Beach Twelves. There’s a bit of an irony picking up a 7″ at a place called Twelves, but I had never seen or heard of Phase III before seeing it at Hector’s store, and this EP, described as a “A 33 RPM Long Play Mini Album” (as there are 5 total songs on the disc) was too nice to pass up. Because I know so little about the record, I’m actually not even sure if it should be listed under “Phase III” as I’ve done or under “Richard Ryder & The Eight Wonder,” but either way, the sounds are dope, especially on this title cut and definitely some of the best I dug up last year. You’ll hear more from this in the near future, guaranteed.

Ofo The Black Company – Allah Wakbarr

Picked this one up at the Mr. Bongo X Rappcats pop-up at the tail end of the year. It’s rare for me to get my hands on clean vinyl out of Africa, and so when a psych funk monster like this from Nigeria’s Ofo The Black Company comes my way, best believe I’m copping it. The Bongo Boys ran into a grip of dead stoke copies so there were more than a few there and not even too too expensive. From the first wash of distorted guitar you know you’re in for something special and then once the chanting starts (which is basically just the muslim call to prayer of “God Is Great”) the vibe just gets pushed up and up until things get taken way up over 11 when the full beat hits in total break your neck ferocity. Soooooooooooooooooo heavy.

The Masterplan – Only You Can Touch This Heart Of Mine

This one actually came to me via my Soul Brother from another Mother Oliver Wang of Soul-Sides.com. Oliver was putting some things up for sale and this immediately caught my attention from the distinctive label to the brief preview O-Dub gave. In those glorious pre-lockdown days, Oliver actually came over to my place to seal the deal and to listen to a whole bunch of music neither of us had heard from each other’s collection. Hadn’t heard of The Masterplan, but Fos-Glo is a Cali label, likely featuring all Bay Area artists, and a Soul Boulder like this is always goona remind me of Matthew Africa and the good times in his company, so of course I had to add it to my collection.

Beto Strada – Tema De Lampiao

Copped this at one of Joel from Tropicalia In Furs pop-ups at Rappcats. I’ve long championed the Brazilian novela soundtrack game as being an exceptional place to find gems. I’ve only recently been noticing how many of these soundtracks are also issued on 7″ (again, this one is a bit of a cheat since the record is actually not at 45), which would include this Trilha Sonora Da Peça Xandu Quaresma from I believe 1984. “Tema De Lampiao” just has such a fantastic vibe to it, but as far as I can tell, this is the only place you can find it. So, as I’ve said many times before, don’t sleep on the novela soundtracks y’all! Especially when they are a bit smaller than the usual LPs.

The Royal Five – Gonna Keep Lovin’ You

Without a doubt, the best thing I picked up in 2019, even if this press might be a little warped, and it’s a late 70s bootleg and not an OG. When I heard Egon play this at one of his pop-ups at Rappcats, time literally stopped. The song was so good, I couldn’t even move. I figured that someone would have grabbed it right then and there, but perhaps the others passed because it was a bootie and not an original press. But the OG is a $300+ record IF you can even find a copy and this one was only $30. While I have a lot of Sweet Soul/Funk tunes that I truly adore, the sound of this one is just so special that it might be an all-time favorite, despite not hearing until roughly a year ago. As I mentioned to some friends online at the time, “this thing is so sweet, I’d buy a totally busted copy that was left out in the Sun all day and still love every second of it…” Not a single thing has changed since then in terms of how I feel about this record. Absolutely, one of my all-time favorite 45s.

The Ponderosa Twins Plus One – Bound
The Ponderosa Twins Plus One – Turn Around You Fool
The Ponderosa Twins – I Remember You

Today would have been Matthew Africa’s 48th birthday. No matter what is going on in my life, I always take this time to reflect on my dearly departed friend and his influence on me and how I hear music. This album is actually from Matthew Africa’s collection and something that a lot of people know because of Kanye sampling “Bound.” Well before then, I had heard the song on a “Twee Funk” mix that he had created for Fader Magazine and their Vinyl Archeology column. The whole mix is full of a litany of kid/teen groups that emerged in the wake of the mega-success of the Jackson 5, which would definitely include the Ponderosa Twins Plus One.

Aptly named, as they were comprised of two sets of twins, plus an additional 5th singer, The Ponderosa Twins really should have been more well known. “Bound” is almost unbelievably good, from the guitar lines to vocal harmonies, it’s a near perfect Sweet Soul song. Some of that high quality must have been due to Bobby Massey, who was a founding member of The Ojays. I don’t know what musicians played on this session, but the playing is really something else, elevating the childish vocals from the group.

If you’ve never heard the Twee Funk mix where I originally heard “Bound” you can find it below. Here are a few of the words Matthew used to describe this mix. “In part, I chose this style because I love the way kids sing. There’s a sweetness, purity and exuberance in their voices that you really don’t hear from grown folks. But I also chose Twee Funk as my subject because it gave me a reason to prepare a mix of a lot of great music I don’t otherwise get to play.”

“…never be another, he was my brother.” RIP MKA

Matthew Africa – Twee Funk Mix

Matthew Africa – Twee Funk – Playlist:
The Jackson 5: “2, 4, 6, 8”
Promise: “I’m Not Ready for Love”
The Voices of East Harlem: “Can You Feel It”
Starborn: “Funky Piper”
The Young Gents: “Big Things Come in Small Packages”
Starborn: “Real Real Thing”
The Nation Survivers (sic): “Get Down”
The Posse: “Come Out and Play”
Wee Three: “Get on Board”
Jackson Sisters: “I Believe in Miracles”
Family Plann: “Come On Let’s Do the Breakdown”
Greer Bros.: “We Don’t Dig No Busing”
Reginald Milton & the Soul Jets: “Clap Your Hands”
The Eight Minutes: “I Can’t Get No Higher”
The Voices of East Harlem: “So Rare”
The Sylvers: “We Can Make It”
The Sylvers: “I Don’t Need to Prove Myself”
Foster Sylvers: “Misdemeanor”
The Sylvers: “Don’t Give Up the Good Life”
The Sylvers: “I Aim to Please”
The Sylvers: “Stay Away from Me”
The Sylvers: “Fool’s Paradise”
The Sylvers: “I Know Myself”
The Sylvers: “Only One Can Win”
Foster Sylvers: “Big Things Come In Small Packages”
The Eight Minutes: “Find the One Who Loves You”
Ponderosa Twins Plus One: “Bound”
Family Circle: “It Doesn’t Make Sense”

The Jazz Minstrels – Poopin’ The Sloop
The Jazz Minstrels – Oh Crakoke
The Jazz Minstrels – Dit Le Burguygnon

Remember how I was just telling y’all not to sleep on DJ Shadow’s Rappcats Storage Sale??? Well, here’s an example of why you don’t want to. Part of the joy, at least for record nerds such as I, of Shadow’s pop-up is that there is so much music that you’ve never seen before and likely never will again. Because I’ve been enthralled with private press and weird records, I almost always grab strange or interesting records to check out on my turntable. That was not the case initially with this record. This album was one that didn’t register a single bit of interest from me when I buzzed past it in the jazz bin early in the afternoon. Part of it is just the way it looks, but more the issue was that the record was sealed and given that, there was no way to check out if it was even worth a listen. Perhaps if the note below had been attached to the sealed copy, I would have given it a shot sight unseen, because if there’s one thing I trust, it’s a post-it with DJ Shadow’s handwriting on it mentioning “breaks.”

Well, thankfully, I was at the right place and the right time when Shadow himself decided to bless those of us still in attendance around 3pm on Saturday and hip us to this hidden treasure. He pulled out this copy, which had the above post-it on the front, unsealed it and then dropped the needle on the unbelievably titled lead track, “Poopin’ The Sloop.” My ears perked up once that slinky bass line hit, and I only got more intrigued as what I thought was a synthesizer, along with some super snappy drums, got added to the mix. But the kicker of course was the 40+ second massive, totally open drum break that happens 3/4’s of the way in. That thing was so dirty, my jaw literally dropped. I expected the album to be some kind of $1000 lost groove record from the early 1970s, featuring at least one well-known player, but nope. I’d never heard of any of these people and neither had Shadow.

This was a legit undiscovered album. Though there was a listing for it on Discogs, it had never been sold before, only one person actually had it in their collection and absolutely ZERO people wanted the album. A copy had shown up on Popsike, but the listing didn’t describe the music or seemingly knew that the album had not one, but TWO massive open drum breaks. I even contacted Cool Chris of Groove Merchant about the record, and he’d never heard of it either.

When I had my mini-freakout, there were already a couple of people by the turntable chatting about the record, so I thought there was absolutely no chance I’d be able to get it. As I was mulling whether my record karma had taken a turn for the worse, I thought to ask if he had extra copies. Sure enough, he said he did, which immediately sent me back to the jazz bins and happily finding that other, still sealed copy. Upon celebrating my good fortune, and trading the sealed copy for the one Shadow had opened, the other dude who had been flipping out over the album was crestfallen that he hadn’t thought to ask/go back to the bins. But, given the fact that absolutely no one, anywhere, had any idea how good this record was, we were able to find a copy for him on Ebay, a rare instance where everybody who wanted a rare record got it (I even hipped my good friend Oliver Wang of Soul-Sides to how massive that break was and he picked up the other copy of the album that was online)!!!

Once I got the record home I read more about the group and the instruments they were using and the rarity and unexpected funkiness of the album only became more intriguing. The Jazz Minstrels really took both parts of their name seriously. As you can see from the instrumentals pictured below on the back cover, the band really did play a number of medieval instruments and worked almost entirely with songs from the 13th & 15th centuries, mixed together with jazz, including a weird curved woodwind called the Krummhorn, which was what I initially had thought was a synthesizer, because who the fuck is ever going to think about anyone, EVER, playing a fucking Krummhorn!

Despite the way the record sounds, it says it was recorded in Jan/Feb of 1980. Given all of my many years of digging, I’ve rarely come across a record from 1980 or later that had such a great sound on the drums, or with such open, massive drum breaks. All of the tools I’ve gained over the years would have led me away from a record like this. It doesn’t entirely even make sense to me that an album like this even exists. Aside from how amazing “Poopin’ The Sloop” is (or how amazing it is that the track is called “Poopin’ The Sloop”), I just can’t comprehend why “Dit Le Burguygnon” switches from the whole medieval/renaissance vibe to all out jazz funk, before returning back to recorders and virginal playing. Slightly more logical is one of the other standout tracks, “Oh Crakoke,” with that strange mix of the medieval with the contemporary jazz sound of the group. Very unique sound, made all the more so because of how unknown the players are and when it was recorded.

25+ years in this record game and I still get surprised by how many things there are left to be discovered. And again, had I not gone to Shadow’s pop-up, or only gone on Sunday, or if I had left earlier on Saturday, I never would have even heard this and it would have remained a total mystery that had I run into any other copies, I likely would have skipped right over just because of how profoundly un-hip the record looks. I’ve run into some amazing records at Shadow’s Rappcats pop-ups, but this one definitely takes the cake and might be one of the top finds of my entire life. Yet another reminder that you should never judge a book/record by it’s cover, that you should always pay attention to weird/boring record covers and most importantly, when given a chance to peruse/get/chat records with one of the world’s best DJs and crate diggers, never ever ever NEVER sleep on that chance!

Rahsaan Roland Kirk – The Seeker
Rahsaan Roland Kirk – Sweet Fire
Rahsaan Roland Kirk – Baby Let Me Shake Your Tree

Part of what might have helped me to finally solve the existential crisis around volume 10 of Melting Pot’s “Deepest Digs,” was the fact that today is a sacred day on this site, where we always pay tribute to the patron saint of Melting Pot, Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Today would have been Rahsaan’s 84th birthday, and looking at all the records I’ve already shared from him, I was actually surprised that I had never posted about the album where Rahsaan debuted as “Rahsaan!” 1970’s Rahsaan Rahsaan, finds Kirk at the full height of his power, as he leads “The Vibration Society,” and claimed his distinctive name, which like so many other things in his life, initially came to him in a dream, as he explains on the back cover liner notes.

Most of the album is a live performance, from which the subtly funky “Sweet Fire,” overtly salacious (though, it should be noted, with a focus on affirmative consent) “Baby, Let Me Shake Your Tree,” come from, but the real highlight of this set is the studio created “The Seeker.” In a way, the track is the strongest statement of Rahsaan’s musical mission. Though often misunderstood because of his insane virtuosity and showmanship, Rahsaan in many ways was a musical ambassador, archivist and activist. There are few who could blend traditional sounds, the avant-garde, soul jazz and contemporary pop music seamlessly together. In “The Seeker,” we get one of his fullest expressions of all the beautiful bright moments “Black Classical Music” was capable of. After a wild opening, where Rahsaan raps a variety of lines, both crazy and insightful, (personal fave is “Listen back, you’ll be able to hear what’s happening up. If you listen up, you’ll be able to take what’s going down.”) the song starts to cook as it goes from section to section “The Seeker,” “Thank You Bird,” and “New Orleans,” with Rahsaan presenting his own style, while also paying tribute to heroes of the past. It’s an audacious recording, but that was Rahsaan…and audacity of his musical vision is a major part of why he remains my favorite musician of all-time. Bright Moments y’all!